Nectar of Risk
by WindSong1
Summary: Hee hee, here we go again, another 'Rose lives' fic. I intend to rewrite Mossflower so she's in it, chapter by chapter. Martin+Rose=Looove!!


Desclaimer; I don't own Redwall, Martin, Rose, Grumm, or anyone else. I'm just playing with 'em a bit. They all belong to BJ.  
  
Situation; Here we go again. Yet ANOTHER fic about Rose not dieing. I'm sorry! But she was (is) my favorite character, along with Martin. This is going to be pure fluff at the end. You have been warned.  
  
  
"We could have chopped the old sycamore down with this."  
Martin's soft, soothingly familiar voice was the last thing LateRose heard as the warm, merciful darkness closed over her, erasing pain, and bringing much needed oblivion and rest.  
********  
"Are they going to be alright?" LateRose heard a quiet, unfamiliar voice ask the question and her brother's voice answering, grimly determined.   
"They will be if I can help it."   
For a moment, Rose wondered where she was, then the terrifying memories of battle washed over her in waves. Blood, shouts, the screams of the dying; a tidal wave of pure, inescapable death. Martin's shadow on the blood-tinted earth. The garish light from the burning gate. Then, most appalling of all, Badrang swinging the sword he had taken from Martin, the long blade catching Grumm's ladle, the utensil smashing against her faithful mole-friend's head. He was swept back from the stunning force of the blow, his head colliding into the wall with a sickening CRACK! And then he was still. Rose remembered yelling hoarsely and throwing herself at Badrang, twirling her loaded sling. Once, twice, thrice she struck him. But then he had lifted her almost effortlessly, flinging her against the wall. It was only by the best of luck that she was not killed. As it was, she was sorely hurt and all but unconscious. Through a blood tinged haze she vaguely saw Martin fighting the Tyrant, ridding the world of the merciless scum who had caused the suffering of so many.  
"Brome?"Rose murmured.   
"Rosie!! Thank the seasons and fates!" Brome's voice was relieved, but Rose thought she detected an undercurrent of pain and sadness.   
"Martin?" She questioned.  
"Unconscious and wounded, but he's strong. He'll survive."  
"Grumm?" Rose's voice was barely a whisper, and Brome's face told her the answer she had been dreading. Tears poured slowly down her face at the full realizatin that her faithful friend and constant companion was ... gone.   
******** About a week later, Rose sat, staring out at sea, covered by a green cloak. Martin, by that time, almost fully recovered but for a spear-wound in his side, walked up behind her, resting his left paw on her shoulder.  
"Are you alright?" He asked gently.  
She sniffled quietly. "I don't know. My mind races, but my heart... it feels like a lump of cold stone in my chest." Martin sat down beside her and she leaned against him, listening to the sound of his breathing, steady and comforting. "He watched over me ever since I can remember. He was the most friendly and loyal mole in all the world. It's so hard to... to..." Her voice trailed off.   
"I know." Martin hestitantly put his arm around her, and she leaned into his touch. " But he's still watching over you. And he always will."  
LateRose nodded, feeling somewhat reassured."What now?"She asked.   
"What do you mean?" Martin asked, confused.  
"I mean, what do I do now? I don't want to go back to Noonvale, not without him. We can't stay here, and anyway, who would want to? Like Boldred said, it's like death is part of the very stones."  
"Why don't you want to go back to Noonvale? Your friends, family, your *home* is there."  
"Not anymore." Rose shook her head. "I know that if it hadn't been for my stubbornness in going with you, he would never have come back to this foul place."  
"You *know* that's not true."  
She sighed."My heart knows that, but it can't make my head believe it. Martin, I *can't* go back. Please, don't make me!"  
"I won't force you into anything. But whereever you go, I'll go too. To protect you. I think Grumm would have wanted me to."  
********  
"We're going South." LateRose's soft voice brooked no argument.  
"What am I going to tell Mother and Father? Espescially Father?"   
"Give them this." LateRose pressed a small piece of paper into Brome's hand, kissed him on the cheek and was gone. He never saw his sister again.   
********  
"Dear Mama and Papa,   
I love you very much. And I'm sorry. But I can't come back. Everywhere I look I see Grumm's face. If I go back, it will be even worse, and I couldn't bear it. I'm sorry. Don't cry for me, mama. And please don't worry about me, I'll be safe with Martin. Papa, you were right that he is a warrior, but I can't leave him. I love him, papa, even though I can't tell him yet. Perhaps one day I will, but not yet. I can never go back to the half-awake life I led before I met him. He *is* life, and this is my awakening. I love you.   
-LateRose of Noonvale, Daughter of Urran Voh and Aryah"  
Urran Voh put down the letter from his beloved daughter. He sighed. "There is no safety from vermin but here in Noonvale."  
"And no peace for Rose but with Martin. He gave her a taste of the bittersweet nectar of risk. I knew that when she went with him, back to Marshank, that we would not see her again till she had drained the cup. And I gave them my blessing."  



End file.
